High pressure pumps are used in many phases of the wellbore servicing operations. Such operations commonly involve the interconnection of various equipment such as pumps, blenders, solid material sources, water sources, chemical sources and the wellhead via one or more pipe manifolds. Each manifold typically may have a plurality of valves of varying types, such as proportional valves as well as on/off valves. Each operation may have a plurality of manifolds with multiple pumps supplying material such as solids and liquids, from multiple sources. Thus, any given operation may have dozens of valves associated with the operation.
Traditionally, an operator is charged with ascertaining the state of each valve and operating the equipment so as not to over pressurize any given component of the system. For example, it is undesirable to initiate pumping into a discharge manifold that does not have an open fluid flow path. This can result in a “deadhead” situation that could damage the manifold, valves or other equipment by over-pressuring. Likewise, a deadhead situation could occur when a system is pumping and one or more valves are operated (opened or closed) in a manner that would create an overpressured state. In either case, where a deadhead or over-pressuring situation occurs, the equipment involved must be taken off-line, inspected and if necessary, repaired, all of which can result in drilling and production delays, as applicable.
Even in systems where the large number of valves are controlled electronically, an operator is still charged with ascertaining the state of each valve and for timing actuation of each valve to accomplish a particular task, such as cementing, pumping or hydraulic fracturing. In many cases, given the large number of valves, the state of any one valve, the actuation of any one valve or the responsiveness of any one valve may be overlooked or simply not identified at all. In this same vein, typically, a particular operation dictates a particular valve configuration for the operation. This large number of valves must be set to the correct position by the operators.
Commonly, each valve is individually set by the operator at the onset of an operation to coincide with the desired configuration for the particular operation. As the number of valves increases, the chances of improperly setting one or more valves in the desired configuration increases.